BACKGROUND Chronic increased arterial blood pressure has been associated with executive dysfunction, slowing of attention and mental processing speed, and later with memory deficits. Due to the absence of a concrete therapeutic approach to this pathophysiological process, in the last decades there has been an increasing interest in the use of nutraceuticals, especially those with antioxidant properties, which own strong neuroprotective potential, that may help to improve cognitive function and to delay the onset of dementia. RESULTS We evaluated the effects of the treatment with a new nutraceutical preparation containing different molecules with potent antioxidant properties (AkP05, IzzeK®) and placebo on a cohort of thirty-six hypertensive patients. At baseline, neuropsychological evaluation, arterial stiffness and biochemical parameters of the subjects were comparable. After 6 months of treatment, there was a significant reduction of the augmentation index in the AkP05-treated group. Moreover, the measurement of cognitive function, evaluated with MoCA test and Word Match Testing, showed a significant improvement in patients receiving the active treatment. In addition, the group treated with nutraceutical reached a better Stroop test score, while subjects that received placebo did not showed any improvement. Finally, a positive relationship between SBP variation and the psychometric assessment with the EQ-VAS scale was observed only in the active treatment group. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we demonstrated that the therapy with a new nutraceutical preparation is able to significantly increase the scores of important neuropsychological tests in hypertensive patients already on satisfactory blood pressure control. Although future studies are needed to better characterize the molecular mechanisms involved, these results candidate the new nutraceutical combination as a possible therapeutic strategy to support the cerebrovascular functions and delay the onset of dementia in hypertensive patients.

中文翻译：

---

一种新的营养组合对高血压患者认知功能的影响。

背景技术慢性动脉血压升高与执行功能障碍、注意力和心理处理速度减慢以及后来的记忆缺陷有关。由于缺乏针对这一病理生理过程的具体治疗方法，在过去的几十年中，人们对使用营养保健品的兴趣越来越大，尤其是那些具有抗氧化特性的保健品，它们具有强大的神经保护潜力，可能有助于改善认知功能和以延缓痴呆症的发生。结果 我们评估了一种新的营养制剂对 36 名高血压患者的治疗效果，该制剂含有不同的具有强抗氧化特性的分子（AkP05，IzzeK®）和安慰剂。在基线，神经心理学评估，受试者的动脉僵硬度和生化参数具有可比性。治疗 6 个月后，AkP05 治疗组的增强指数显着降低。此外，通过 MoCA 测试和单词匹配测试评估的认知功能测量显示，接受积极治疗的患者有显着改善。此外，接受营养保健品治疗的组的 Stroop 测试得分更高，而接受安慰剂的受试者没有表现出任何改善。最后，仅在积极治疗组中观察到 SBP 变化与使用 EQ-VAS 量表的心理测量评估之间存在正相关关系。结论 在这项研究中，我们证明，使用新的营养制剂治疗能够显着提高已经达到令人满意的血压控制的高血压患者的重要神经心理学测试的分数。尽管需要未来的研究来更好地描述所涉及的分子机制，但这些结果表明新的营养组合物可以作为支持脑血管功能和延缓高血压患者痴呆发作的一种可能的治疗策略。